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NuttyNuti β Nuti's Naruto OC Rant
Published: 2010-10-09 13:43:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 18678; Favourites: 191; Downloads: 218
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Description
A day, I felt I had to do this. I really hope I had that good skills of speaking. (And yes, I have changed my hairdo.)It is difficult for me to do comics, since you have to make the character and object similar every panel. As help in this, I used cross-ruled paper. Believe or not, it eased a lot when trying to save the proportions!
Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto
Comic and me (c) me
EDIT: Please read the comic from the start to the end before commenting anything. I have nothing against OCs generally but against poor-made ones that lack personality and background. I'm neither referring any OC I've met, but talking generally.
EDITEDIT: Whoah, whoah, whoah! This comic has resulted several people to ask me about their OCs! I'm biased ^^' If interested, I've also written earlier a Mary Sue tutorial (or my views of Sueness) here: [link] It may also help you.
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Comments: 326
Thank you for this. I've been reading a bit of Mary sue stories without knowing what they were till I was half way through the story. I'm trying to write my own oc but I just can't seem to understand on how to stay away from being Mary sue. I'm going to make sure that this page stays up so I can check and re check thank you solo much.
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Sorry about this immense delay with replying! I was busy with school issues.
If you are worried about your character being a Mary Sue, here are some summarizing questions about him/her:
- Does the character have any other properties than relationships to (cool) canon things? (This is an issue that this Le Olde rant was about.) Is your character only Sasuke's long-lost twin, Neji's lover, and jinchuuriki of a dozen-tailed pink bunny beast, or is he/she also something else? If he/she stripped from all the references to the series, could he/she be still a relatable character by his/her personality alone? While an OC can have relationships to canon things with no problem, ONLY canon things don't keep him/her floating.
- Does your character have genuine flaws that tell something about him/her as a person? Does his/her flaws cause him/her to do mistakes, perhaps grave ones? (More about that in my character flaw review, I'll link that below.)
- Overall, do their background, personality, skills etc. make SENSE in their background?
Here are a couple of tutorials of mine about the topic: "How to Avoid Creating a Mary Sue" tutorial and "Character Flaws" tutorial/review . I hope they can be helpful to you!
And again sorry about a delayed reply.
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this is helpful when someone is making a new OC
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;u; You are my hope in a good Naruto-Fandom!
Thank you for existing~
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...you're welcome? :'D
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You seriously need a TV-Show right after Naruto, where you can teach all those "kawaii akatsuki girls" how it's done. *_* I'm going to overthrow Jashin and you will be the new god! *A* IΒ think I've got a new hype... Β excuse me, my kokoro goes way too much doki doki.
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Wow you are so right and u did GREAT Β job tellin us wat everyone felt about naruto oc's=3! *Clap*
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I love this, this is so true(and funny too).
Although You forget the fact that some OC have sometime animal features such as ears and tails and the westerns names but what the hell, this is awesome anyway.
I saw a lot of OC like that so it keeps me away from many fanfics.
I don't have an OC in Naruto univers but I'm enjoying this ^^.
You're great lol
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Thanks for your praise and feedback!
My major theme here was that the Naruto OCs should have their own personality and background built before they connect themselves with canon characters. For example, your character won't automatically become an awesome character by making him/her part of the awesome Hyuuga family: instead, to be awesome, the character should be awesome even without any connections to canons. Animal ears and tails and Western names are clumsy too, but they are not the main point in this rant.
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Your welcome ^^, you're right and I think it's better for the character to not be a part of a famous clan like Uchiha or Hyuuga, the character is more original (bt a mix of the two, just no... XD)
Lol, okay ^^.
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Most people read fanfics for the canon characters and not for an oc, so if you make your oc too original and focus too much on them many will scream in their mind or comment "MARY SUE!". or just drop it without reading to the end.
So oc stories should have a originality while not stealing the show?
Also are ALL uchihas dead? I mean some must have been away on some missions or the clan had defectors during certain times and are scattered across the naruto globe. Which would make an interesting story with a bonus of head canon world building in naruto
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Sorry about delay with reply.
So. It's totally true that people mostly read fanfics in order to read about the canon characters rather than about OCs. I believe this is a lot about these issues:
1. It is not very easy to find an interesting OC among all the c**ppy wish-fulfillment characters, especially among fandoms that attract young and inexperienced fanfic authors, like Naruto. (Note that this does not mean that there were no good fanfic authors among Naruto fans, just that it attracts a lot beginner fanficists who don't quite know how to make convenient characters.) If the fanfic is about a canon character, you already know what kind of character he/she is. (Or depends on how the author writes about him/her.)
2. It takes effort to familiarize with a new character. So if there is a danger of that the character is horribly written, why not to check a canon character story instead of wasting effort? See above.
3. People also simply like to read alternative descriptions about their favorite canon characters.
About Uchihas: I believe that the biggest problem with making an Uchiha is not the logic, but that it easily attracts you to base the character's self onto the fact that he/she is an Uchiha and not on that what he/she actually is.
That is actually the main point of my rant: characterizing the character by saying "he/she is/has/belongs to A Marvelous Canon Thing XYZ" without defining a character as himself/herself first makes him/her easily shallow and uninteresting. For beginners, it is a good idea to start from a character who has no canon relationships, and when the beginner learns to write decent characters, he/she can add canon traits without the danger that the canon trait becomes the Very Only Ruling Trait of him/her.
But indeed, taking into account that Uchiha spreading thing could be interesting! But it also requires skill and thorough thinking to make it work and not just use it to briefly justify, "HI SASKAY! I'M YOUR COUSIN!!"
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Haha, "im ur cuzin"
Thank you for taking the time and effort to respond with a well thought out answer
Wish I could fave this comment or maybe you're going to do an update of this?
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Too lazy to update, sorry xD
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You, ma'am, are ENTIRELY CORRECT! I fully agree with all of your statements! I personally can't stand when people make OCs that aren't original in the slightest or have no personality. I personally have two Naruto OCs (well, excluding a self insert.) and I take plenty of time to develop their own random clans and backstories and jutsus and all of that (painfully tedious) stuff.
In fact, one of the OCs stories is mostly all about her when she's a little kid and living her life, with very little to do with all of the other characters. Frankly, it's a bit more fun to write that way. ^u^
Of course, my other character follows the storyline much more and has a lot of development still to do (such as making some sort of cool, original Kekkei Genkai. Soon enough, I may just break down and make a hidden technique instead.) He DOES get together with another character in the story and WAS intended to be created for that reason, but I did develop his personality and such further than just that. Because I agree with you those characters who have no existence other than to be paired with a character is just...Bleh.
Anyway, so yes. I do totally agree with you on all of your statements above.
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Glad that we agree!
Non-original personality can be tolerable -- after all, for example protagonists in mainstream shounen anime tend to be rather similar fearless derps. What is worse is lack of personality. And often, if the original characters is made to be "canon character X's relative/girlfriend/best friend/etc.", they are in danger of lacking a personality, as the authors only concentrate on the relationship part.
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Exactly! I personally have a bit of lack of interaction with characters though. But it's better than random, illogical interaction I suppose. Oh, by the way I looked at your how to dress Naruto characters guide and it was extremely helpful! I've always been worried about how to draw them in a style that was accurate and it was very helpful! Thank you!
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Indeed.
Glad that you have found my tutorials useful! C:
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I gotta say, your rant is really refreshing. I'm trying to create a Naruro OC, and the only human anime OC I've ever made, and I've been reluctant to make her for a lot of the reasons you've just stated. Mostly the relations with canon characters bit. But anyway, this rant is helpful, and entertaining!
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Summa summarum: Before linking a character to canon characters, first make him/her a decent character who can be awesome by himself/herself without any references to canon characters. C: That was the main message of my rant.
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I figured as much, thank you though. The character I have in mind has a strong relationship with a canon character, but their bond doesn't define who she is. I hope that qualifies.
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Depends on the execution. Good luck! C:
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Thank you, I shall try my hardest not to make her lame and repetitive...
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Have fun with creating her! C:
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Thanks! GRID PAPER CHIBIS FOR THE WIN.
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LOL I love this!
You've got the guts to say what most people complain about so well done Props to you :3
I've been trying to work on perfecting my naruto oc's lately and came across this, totally made my night dude!
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Some of my works here (especially tutorials) were born when I got fed up with an issue xD
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XD
well well done to ya matey X'D
I gotta admite when i started drawing Oc's i was pretty bad but i'd like to think i have gotten better XD
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wait my character in one of my stories is from the real world she basics are like mind and i made other oc's to go along with it i thought i was being creative or something my character has autism i don't see everyone using those for their traits or having glasses for all i know ^.^
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Uh... wait. I try to open what you said. So, you have a character who...
a) appeared in a single story of yours
b) comes from our world
c) can already do the basics of ninja arts by ease
d) has influenced your other characters (to come from our world too)
e) is an autist
f) has glasses
Did I get it right? ...ummm, and then, what was your main point of your post? :'D Did you want to ask or argue something? I kind of missed it. Sorry, I'm not a native English speaker.
Could you please use more punctuation and appropriate capital initial letters next time? Reading English texts without punctuation or capital initial letters is truly difficult for me!
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ok! ans ya you got it right and ask like is those common? or something im new at writing stories i mostly read or rp
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Ah! Okay, now I got it.
However, the idea of my rant over there was that too many Naruto OCs I had seen that time were based on a cool organization / character's family / etc. that appeared in the series, in sense of that "there is a Cool Club C, if I am member of the Cool Club C, I am cool, too". Example: "Shikamaru is cool. If my character is Shikamaru's sister, she is automatically cool, too." In reality, that kind of thinking doesn't work: even if you joined randomly to a chess club of your school, it doesn't automatically mean you are an excellent chess player.
This applies to OCs, too. Making them to join to something that is related to something cool DOESN'T make them automatically cool. Coolness must be EARNED. You must SHOW that the character is cool and not just to say "he/she is cool (because she is Shikamaru's sister)". Otherwise the readers don't believe he/she is cool. That I mean by freeloading: you don't use any effort to show that the character is cool, but just slap onto him/her "she is cool because she is Shikamaru's sister, period".
And how to show that the character is cool? Well, how did Kishimoto show that Shikamaru is cool? By showing his personality and skills during the story! EXACTLY! THAT is the way how characters are made cool -- by writing THEM well! And showing that they can be cool INDEPENDENTLY!
Next, as a bit offtopic, I comment each of the traits you gave separately.
a) appeared in a single story of yours
...okay, carry on.
b) comes from our world
I haven't read much Naruto fanfics lately, but this trope is actually rather usual in fanfics in general. Many amateur authors use that since of course it is easier to describe something that is already familiar to you (our world vs. ninja world). However, that is a bit hard to pull in interesting way. Think HOW can you use the fact that the protagonist comes from our world. Is she stumbling upon ninja arts and angsting about lack of Facebook? Is she dangering something serious by dimension traveling? Is dimension-traveling a major plot device and maybe source of chaos?
c) can already do the basics of ninja arts by ease
...waitwaitwait!!! She comes from OUR WORLD and already knows ninja arts? HOW? If you don't give any convenient explanation, your readers may not find your story "believable". By "being believable", I mean that the readers could imagine, "YES, this really could happen in Narutoversum!"
d) has influenced your other characters (to come from our world too)
...carry on.
e) is an autist
When writing about mental conditions, RESEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND. If you write about autists unrealistically and maybe use harmful stereotypes, you may soon find seriously offended readers (who are possibly autists by themselves or acquainted with autists). Also avoid cherry picking: don't only use autists' strengths (Savant skills, cute child-likeness, etc.) but also weaknesses (lack of skills in normal social interaction, serious difficulties in certain areas, super-formal and unnatural way to speak, etc.) However, well done and authentic autist character might be really interesting and delicious to read!
Years ago, I made a Naruto RPG character who was a middle-aged autistic man. He was unable to count anything and was slow to realize issues, but instead, he was able to produce REALLY accurate drawings out of issues he had seen only by glimpse. Yes, he was based on the famous autistic artist named Stephen Wiltshire. He wasn't a ninja, but oddly, he had skill to resist any genjutsu -- or more like that he doesn't even realize the existence the genjutsus, he simply can't sense them or their effects. I can't remember exactly where the latter skill came from.
f) has glasses
I SUPPORT NINJAS WITH GLASSES. *thumbs up*
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That naruto rpg character you wrote about seems like a really interesting character.
A middle aged man.. that made me realize that i should vary the ages with the characters that i make (but within reaason, of course.)
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Making minority characters is always fun xD In a fantasy RPG forum where I attended to, I loved to make characters of races that existed in the RPG world but there were no played characters of them. Also, making characters who aren't teenagers/20-somethings is always refreshing!
I don't remember that character well anymore, as I played him long time ago for a short time. I think that "can't even notice genjutsu" thing might be a really useful character trait separately: Benefit: Genjutsu doesn't affect on you. Period. Drawback: You don't realize that there is genjutsu around and thus you are slow to help your allies who are affected by genjutsu and don't realize that by themselves.
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the problem with oc's is that the author speed things up to get to the cool part without any development and having personality is boring only cool shallow stuff matters and having sex with your fave character.
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"Speed things up"... that is a very good expression for this use! 
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YES! I was thinking over my character Reizuki Nightray.. I haven't got a story plot yet..
because I don't know whether to put her back in time where Madara and Hashirama extra are OR..(big or)
forward where she knows Naruto just after he meets Haku in the forest or in the town they were staying in and later in Shippuden they meet again o.o at some point btw.. she looks a little like Madara but had these two spikes that look like ears *_* and she got light blue hair...
I'm still drawing her out and stuff I've been chopping and changing what she looks like but I have decided on one thing.. she WILL have the eternal Mangekyou like Madara.. because of something that happened when she was 7 *_* ... but these ideas running through my head maybe I should write them down xD ( I don't want her to act too much like Madara or like an uchiha but she is one I'ma gonna write it down my journal what happens aka she doesn't live in Konaha at all *_* ...)
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Unrelated, but I love that name though
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Β This was written a long time ago... when I was still interested in Naruto's Madara, mwhehehe I've run away to some place else now.
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Hmmm, I browsed your gallery a bit... are you fine if I go to the introduction page of your OC and give some critique there? It will get lengthy...
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